SessionS

SessionS is a standalone subsystem within CGRateS responsible to manage virtual sessions based on events received. It is accessed via CGRateS RPC APIs.

Parameters

SessionS

Configured within sessions section within JSON configuration via the following parameters:

enabled
Will enable starting of the service. Possible values: <true|false>.
listen_bijson
Address where the SessionS listens for bidirectional JSON requests.
chargers_conns
Connections towards ChargerS component to query charges for events.
rals_conns
Connections towards RALs component to implement auth and balance reservation for events.
cdrs_conns
Connections towards CDRs component where CDRs and session costs will be sent.
resources_conns
Connections towards ResourceS component for resources management.
thresholds_conns
Connections towards ThresholdS component to monitor and react to information within events.
stats_conns
Connections towards StatS component to compute stat metrics for events.
routes_conns
Connections towards RouteS component to compute routes for events.
attributes_conns
Connections towards AttributeS component for altering the events.
replication_conns
Connections towards other SessionS components, used in case of session high-availability.
debit_interval
Default debit interval in case of *prepaid requests. Zero will disable automatic debits in favour of manual ones.
store_session_costs
Used in case of decoupling events charging from CDR processing. The session costs debitted by SessionS will be stored into StorDB.sessions_costs table and merged into the CDR later when received.
default_usage
Imposes the default usage for each tipe of call.
session_ttl
Enables automatic detection/removal of stale sessions. Zero will disable the functionality.
session_ttl_max_delay
Used in tandem with session_ttl to randomize disconnects in order to avoid system peaks.
session_ttl_last_used
Used in tandem with session_ttl to emulate the last used information for missing terminate event.
session_ttl_usage
Used in tandem with session_ttl to emulate the total usage information for the incomplete session.
session_indexes
List of fields to index out of events. Used to speed up response time for session queries.
client_protocol
Protocol version used when acting as a JSON-RPC client (ie: force disconnecting the sessions).
channel_sync_interval
Sync channels at regular intervals to detect stale sessions. Zero will disable this functionality.
terminate_attempts
Limit the number of attempts to terminate a session in case of errors.
alterable_fields
List of fields which are allowed to be changed by update/terminate events.

Processing logic

Depends on the implementation of particular RPC API used.

GetActiveSessions, GetActiveSessionsCount, GetPassiveSessions, GetPassiveSessionsCount

Returns the list of sessions based on the received filters.

SetPassiveSession

Used by CGRateS in High-Availability setups to replicate sessions between different SessionS nodes.

ReplicateSessions

Starts manually a replication process. Useful in cases when a node comes back online or entering maintenance mode.

AuthorizeEvent, AuthorizeEventWithDigest

Used for event authorization. It’s behaviour can be controlled via a number of different parameters:

GetAttributes
Activates altering of the event by AttributeS.
AttributeIDs
Selects only specific attribute profiles (instead of discovering them via FilterS). Faster in processing than the discovery mechanism.
AuthorizeResources
Activates event authorization via ResourceS. Returns RESOURCE_UNAVAILABLE if no resources left for the event.
GetMaxUsage
Queries RALs for event’s maximum usage allowed.
ProcessThresholds
Sends the event to ThresholdS to be used in monitoring.
ThresholdIDs
Selects only specific threshold profiles (instead of discovering them via FilterS). Faster in processing than the discovery mechanism.
ProcessStats
Sends the event to StatS for computing stat metrics.
StatIDs
Selects only specific stat profiles (instead of discovering them via FilterS). Faster in processing than the discovery mechanism.
GetRoutes
Sends the event to RouteS to return the list of routes for it as part as authorization.
RoutesMaxCost
Mechanism to implement revenue assurance for routes coming from RouteS component. Can be defined as a number or special meta variable: *event_cost, assuring that the route cost will never be higher than event cost.
RoutesIgnoreErrors
Instructs to ignore routes with errors(ie: without price for specific destination in tariff plan). Without this setting the whole query will fail instead of just the route being ignored.

InitiateSession, InitiateSessionWithDigest

Used in case of session initiation. It’s behaviour can be influenced by following arguments:

GetAttributes
Activates altering of the event by AttributeS.
AttributeIDs
Selects only specific attribute profiles (instead of discovering them via FilterS). Faster in processing than the discovery mechanism.
AllocateResources
Process the event with ResourceS, allocating the matching requests. Returns RESOURCE_UNAVAILABLE if no resources left for the event.
InitSession

Initiates the session executing following steps:

  • Fork session based on matched ChargerS profiles.
  • Start debit loops for *prepaid requests if DebitInterval is higher than 0.
  • Index the session internally and start internal timers for detecting stale sessions.
ProcessThresholds
Sends the event to ThresholdS to be used in monitoring.
ThresholdIDs
Selects only specific threshold profiles (instead of discovering them via FilterS). Faster in processing than the discovery mechanism.
ProcessStats
Sends the event to StatS for computing stat metrics.
StatIDs
Selects only specific stat profiles (instead of discovering them via FilterS). Faster in processing than the discovery mechanism.

UpdateSession

Used to update an existing session or initiating a new one if none found. It’s behaviour can be influenced by the following arguments:

GetAttributes
Use AttributeS to alter the event.
AttributeIDs
Selects only specific attribute profiles (instead of discovering them via FilterS). Faster in processing than the discovery mechanism.
UpdateSession

Involves charging mechanism into processing. Following steps are further executed:

  • Relocate session if InitialOriginID field is present in the event.
  • Initiate session if the CGRID is not found within the active sessions.
  • Update timers for session stale detection mechanism.
  • Debit the session usage for all the derived *prepaid sessions.

TerminateSession

Used to terminate an existing session or to initiate+terminate a new one. It’s behaviour can be influenced by the following arguments:

TerminateSession

Stop the charging process. Involves the following steps:

  • Relocate session if InitialOriginID field is present in the event.
  • Initiate session if the CGRID is not found within the active sessions.
  • Unindex the session so it does not longer show up in active sessions queries.
  • Stop the timer for session stale detection mechanism.
  • Stop the debit loops if exist.
  • Balance the charges (refund or debit more).
  • Store the session costs if configured.
  • Cache the session for later CDRs if configured.
ReleaseResources
Will release the aquired resources within ResourceS.
ProcessThresholds
Send the event to ThresholdS for monitoring.
ThresholdIDs
Selects only specific threshold profiles (instead of discovering them via FilterS). Faster in processing than the discovery mechanism.
ProcessStats
Send the event to StatS for building the stat metrics.
StatIDs
Selects only specific stat profiles (instead of discovering them via FilterS). Faster in processing than the discovery mechanism.

ProcessMessage

Optimized for event charging, without creating sessions based on it. Influenced by the following arguments:

GetAttributes
Alter the event via AttributeS.
AttributeIDs
Selects only specific attribute profiles (instead of discovering them via FilterS). Faster in processing than the discovery mechanism.
AllocateResources
Alter the event via ResourceS for resource allocation.
Debit
Debit the event via RALs. Uses ChargerS to fork the event if needed.
ProcessThresholds
Send the event to ThresholdS for monitoring.
ThresholdIDs
Selects only specific threshold profiles (instead of discovering them via FilterS). Faster in processing than the discovery mechanism.
ProcessStats
Send the event to StatS for building the stat metrics.
StatIDs
Selects only specific stat profiles (instead of discovering them via FilterS). Faster in processing than the discovery mechanism.
GetRoutes
Sends the event to RouteS to return the list of routes for it.
RoutesMaxCost
Mechanism to implement revenue assurance for routes coming from RouteS component. Can be a number or special meta variable: *event_cost, assuring that the route cost will never be higher than event cost.
RoutesIgnoreErrors
Instructs to ignore routes with errors(ie: without price for specific destination in tariff plan). Without this setting the whole query will fail instead of just the route being ignored.

ProcessCDR

Build the CDR out of the event and send it to CDRs. It has the ability to use cached sessions for obtaining additional information like fields with values or derived charges, forking also the CDR based on that.

ProcessEvent

Will generically process an event, having the ability to merge all the functionality of previous processing APIs.

Instead of arguments, the options for enabling various functionaity will come in the form of Flags. These will be of two types: main and auxiliary, the last ones being considered suboptions of the first. The available flags are:

*attributes
Activates altering of the event via AttributeS.
*cost
Queries RALs for event cost.
*resources

Process the event with ResourceS. Additional auxiliary flags can be specified here:

*authorize
Authorize the event.
*allocate
Allocate resources for the event.
*release
Release the resources used for the event.
*rals

Process the event with RALs. Auxiliary flags available:

*authorize
Authorize the event.
*initiate
Initialize a session out of event.
*update
Update a sesssion (or initialize + update) out of event.
*terminate
Terminate a session (or initialize + terminate) out of event.
*routes

Process the event with RouteS. Auxiliary flags available:

*ignore_errors
Ignore the routes with errors instead of failing the request completely.
*event_cost
Ignore routes with cost higher than the event cost.
*thresholds
Process the event with ThresholdS for monitoring.
*stats
Process the event with StatS for metrics calculation.
*cdrs
Create a CDR out of the event with CDRs.

GetCost

Queries the cost for event from RALs. Additional processing options can be selected via the Flags argument. Possible flags:

*attributes
Use AttributeS to alter the event before cost being calculated.

SyncSessions

Manually initiate a sync sessions mechanism. All the connections will be synced and stale sessions will be automatically disconnected.

ForceDisconnect

Disconnect the session matching the filter.

ActivateSessions

Manually activate a session which is marked as passive.

DeactivateSessions

Manually deactivate a session which is marked as active.